There’s no getting around it—water is an essential part of life for all living things. Northern California’s forests provide much of the drinking water to the rest of the state. Keeping the life giving waters in our bioregion clean is essential.

In a time with an uncertain climate future and increasing water scarcity, it is time to realize the importance of healthy forests on California’s water resources. Northern California’s forests are the storage and filtration system for the state’s water supply. The forests act to store water in the winter months to prevent flooding, slowly release water in the summer months to keep the waterways flowing and the shade provided lessens evaporation. Well managed natural forests provide higher quality water, with less sediment and fewer pollutants.

The importance of protecting forests is beyond the value of biodiversity conservation, it is about protecting our necessary water supply.

Logging and road building is the primary source of sediment pollution into our waterways. Our region is also burdened with “legacy problems” from unregulated logging during the last century. Most of our region’s waterways are designated “impaired” under the Federal Clean Water Act.

EPIC works with the North Coast Water Quality Control Board, the State Water Board, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the U.S. Forest Service to ensure activities occurring within our region’s forests are compliant with the Clean Water Act and California’s Porter-Cologne Act.